In the book, “On Killing”, the author utilizes a set of various themes to explain his ideas. The author mainly describes the psychological aspects of soldiers in the battle field and how it affects their behavior. The author describes to his elite audience the psychological concepts using different literary skills. He uses different intonations and perspectives to convince his audience. He also cites other researchers’ views to help deliver specific nuance and meaning to his audience. The author explains why soldiers develop a love for one another and the desire to protect and help each other when they work as a group over time. In the second chapter, the author uses two major themes, description, imagery and symbolism to explain his concepts. These themes are utilized to help bring out the personality of the author and explain the psychological behavior of soldiers in a battle field.
Imagery is used by the author in an attempt to help the audience understand the concept of brotherhood amongst soldiers. While quoting Du Picq, the author explains, “Four brave men who do not know each other will not dare attack a lion. Four less brave men, but knowing each other well, sure of their reliability..and mutual aid, will attack resolutely” The description helps create an image in mind about how soldiers with an understanding would fight to defend each other. They would always try not to let each other down. Imagery is a literary theme used by the author and the writers he quotes to expound on the concept of teamwork among soldiers. The relevance of imagery in this chapter is to create a link between the ability of soldiers to fight or kill when they are in the company of their colleagues. The use of imagery in the second chapter is to help the audience relate the past real life incidents with the author’s argument.
Description is another major theme used by the author in the second chapter. This is meant to develop a relationship between the arguments on soldiers’ group mentality and the real life activities. The author describes different situations where soldiers put their lives in danger when defending one another by killing the enemy. This is illustrated in the second paragraph of chapter two where examples of U.S soldiers during the Vietnam War defended one another. This behavior by soldiers is described by Dyer as “special kind of love” Description is an effective approach to help the audience relate the concepts with real life examples in the past. Description expounds on how soldiers can be vicious in protecting their colleagues’ lives rather than when they are on their own.
In the second chapter, symbolism is used to help the audience establish the seriousness of the issue of group absolution among soldiers. For example, the author that, “seems to facilitate a kind of atavistic killing hysteria that can also be seen in the animal kingdom.” The author uses the animal kingdom to portray the life of a soldier in the battlefield. The animal kingdom is used to symbolize a contextual battle field where soldiers have to look out for themselves and also their colleagues. Symbolism is a good way of giving an alternative scenario of the prevailing conditions in the battle field. The author justifies his main argument that soldiers must act as a group rather than individual if they want to survive.
The perspective of the author is that soldiers prefer to look out for one another because they feel it is their responsibility. He even insinuates that as soldiers stay together on the battle field for long, they become selfless and value the safety of their colleagues. Another perspective of the author is that soldiers kill enemies because they want to save lives of fellow soldiers rather than their own. This is illustrated under the subtopic accountability and anonymity. The tone used in the second chapter is a concerned one. Soldiers behave in a concerned manner because of the bond they develop when they spend a lot of time together. The responsibility to look out for one another develops from the continuous difficulties experienced as a group.
The role of the tone used in the second chapter is to enhance the credibility of the author’s argument. The author argues that soldiers care and defend the lives of their colleagues more than they care about their own lives. To make his audience believe the argument and the examples, a convincing and concerning tone must be used. The tone also helps capture the audience’s attention.
Therefore, the author portrays group absolution among soldiers by using three major themes. The author uses imagery, symbolism and description to help the audience grasp the concepts and ideas in the arguments. The author’s arguments are presented in a concerned tone to ensure that the audience remains keen to learn about group absolution among soldiers. The second chapter of the book is portrays the author as an objective writer trying to prove his arguments to his audience using evidence from psychologists and case studies.
Works Cited
Grossman, Dave. On Killing. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
